Online Masterclass – Business & IT Alignment

Navigating business/IT alignment: why use a compass if you have a GPS?

The balance between performance, conformance, and alignment are important to any organisation’s success. However, most enterprises tend to lean towards the conformance side to the point where it affects business performance without regard to aligning business and IT strategies.

This is like finding your precise location on the ground by using the wrong map and compass. Having tools available that offer pinpoint accuracy to where you need to focus efforts in an organisation is crucial. Decision making around efforts such as funding, assurance, improvements, and compliance are all areas within an enterprise that require resources and should not be determined with only one factor.

The more guidance systems you have looking into your alignment, the more accurate you can be at focusing your efforts. In this workshop, we will explore what those multiple guidance systems are to align business and IT strategies, and how you can leverage the right compass and map your efforts towards creating value for the enterprise.

Target Audience

Facilitated by Mark Thomas, an internationally known Governance, Risk and Compliance expert specialising in information assurance, IT strategy and service management, this interactive event can be a valuable experience for project managers, business analysts, IT management, senior leadership, and service management consultants and professionals. There is something in this Masterclass for anyone interested in learning how to align your work with your key stakeholders. Whether you are new to IT, or have been around for a while, this event is for you.

BOOK YOUR PLACE

What will it involve?

During this event we will cover:

The need for alignment

• Mission, vision, values and strategy, what do they really mean?
• The strategic planning process, when did technology start driving our strategy?
• Alignment outcomes, what should we expect?
• Group discussion/case study

Using the right compass and map for alignment

• Governance systems, what is the right framework to support my alignment needs?
• Using the goals cascade, what is value to my stakeholders?
• Alignment navigation tools, why use a compass if you also have a GPS?
• Group discussion/case study

Designing business and IT alignment

• Strategy alignment, what is the business looking for?
• Enterprise goals, what are the most important goals?
• Risk profile, what scenarios are we up against?
• I&T related issues, do we have any pain points?
• Threat landscape, are we a target?
• Compliance requirements, what are our requirements?
• Role of IT, is IT a necessity or strategic enabler?
• Sourcing model for IT, do we buy, build, or outsource?
• IT implementation methods, are we a slow or fast organisation?
• Technology adoption strategy, do we buy new technologies first, or wait?
• Group discussion/case study

Tailoring the governance system to meet stakeholder needs

• The governance system, what ingredients need to be in place?
• Making changes, when do we modify our alignment model?
• Providing assurance, how do we know we are doing the right things?
• Group discussion/case study

Measuring the benefits of alignment using performance and conformance

• Benefits realisation, are we delivering what we expected?
• Financial and non-financial benefits, how do we measure these?
• Performance vs. conformance, which one is more important?
• Group discussion/case study

What are the key benefits of attending?

Benefits include, but are not limited to:

• Learn how to leverage multiple techniques when balancing performance, conformance and alignment between the business and IT.
• Understand how to measure the benefits resulting from properly aligned business and IT strategies.
• Recognise industry frameworks and tools that assist in creating alignment.
• Walk away with references, tools, and templates to get you started on your journey to align your business and IT efforts.

Delivery Platform

This online Masterclass will be delivered over two days, during the hours of 13:00 – 17:00 each day, using the Zoom platform.

PeopleCert ITIL CPD Points

itSMF UK members will automatically earn 7 ‘Professional Education’ ITIL CPD points for attending this event – more details available here.

How much does it cost?

Places are available to itSMF UK members for £295.00 + VAT.

Not yet a member? You’ll be shown a price of £460 + VAT which includes an ‘Individual’ level annual membership.  To find out about other membership levels, benefits and costs please click here.

REGISTER NOW!

Please contact the office on +44 (0) 118 918 6500 to discuss a dedicated delivery of this event for your organisation.
online